wooly wooly adventures

anyone who knows me is well aware of the fact that i detest winter. hell, i ran away to the caribbean for a few months to avoid the wasteland that snow and frigid temperatures cause. and the thing is, i don’t even remember really liking this season much when i was younger either. a snow day from school simply meant i could actually watch the “price is right.”

so this winter, i’ve decided to take a different approach aside from getting up and moving for 3-4 months every year (and that has been discussed in length, mind you). and thus far, things are noticeably better. granted, the coldness has only taken hold for about a month, so we’ll see how i feel come mid-february.

the difference? wool. plain and simple. and people, it’s not itchy. at least, not the sportwool i buy for biking purposes. i’ve got a couple lighter weight, long sleeve base layers, which are perfect as standalones during cooler fall weather. put that together with another mid-to-heavyweight layer, and i’m toasty. in fact, i’ve come to discover that if you wear wool day in and day out, 1) you don’t smell (seriously. it won’t happen.), and 2) you get downright balmy. and balmy + damn cold = kinda nice.

so, chicago, i love you for your cuisine and quaint shops and the lack of need for a car, but i will never love you in the wintertime. never, ever. even with your cute twinkle lights downtown and seemingly serene icecaps on the lake. but in order for this relationship to work, i need to wear so much wool indoors that when i go outside in negative wind chills, it actually feels refreshing to have wind burn and frozen snot-cicles.

14 December 2007